With E3 around the corner, and Nintendo and Sony introducing next-generation stuff, it is pretty much time to determine and announce the winner of this current generation of gaming. Despite the weak second half, despite the total lack of support from third-parties, despite the hardcore pretty much neglecting it to a point of disease, and despite the awful reputation given to it on the internet, the Nintendo Wii pretty much dominated this generation and was the outstanding winner by a wide margin. The funny thing is if Nintendo had supported it a bit better, it could have broken every sales record in the book. If Nintendo had applied a little more effort during the latter years of its run, we really could have had the biggest system in the history of gaming.
If only the phenomenal support from the first couple years had continued. Within the first few years, we already had a Zelda title, one Mario title, a Metroid title, a Smash Brothers waiting around the corner, and a few new franchises bouncing around. If only they could have continued this wonderful trend in later years with more F-Zero, Kirby (legit Kirby, by the way), Star Fox, Pokemon (legit one, no knockoff stuff), Earthbound, Kid Icarus, the Mario Sports games, and a little more from the main franchises.
And no, Metroid: Other M does not count.
Nonetheless:
7 of the 20 best-selling video games come from the Nintendo Wii. The best-selling game of all-time is on the Wii. The best-selling racing game of all-time is on the Nintendo Wii. The two best-selling fitness games of all-time are on the Wii. The best-selling fighting game of all-time is on the Nintendo Wii. They have over 10 games that have sold over 7 million copies, which is something no other system has accomplished. The Wii has been around for about 55 months, and has sold at a rate of 1.5 million a month. It beat the Gamecube in overall sales in just a couple of years. At one point, it had nearly 70% market share, which is something no system (except the NES) had ever pulled off.
They accomplished all this with no third-party support, much weaker hardware, pure shunning from the hardcore crowd, and much less excellent games when compared to the other two systems. What Nintendo did right was market their product to the mainstream, damning the hardcore crowd after the abandonment of the Gamecube. The Wii shoved the world of gaming into the limelight and the mainstream, and their focus on cheaper games with innovative ways of gaming paved the way for the success of Apple’s influx of tiny games that are quietly chomping into the handheld market. Nintendo made games accessible not just to the teenage/college crowd, but also families, retirement homes, and even fitness centers.
What prevented this massive rush of success from hitting PS2 heights (and we all know it could have happened) was the incoming competition, the momentum running out of steam, the support dying in an alarming rate, and also Nintendo realizing they could pull all they could from their little machine. Graphically, they peaked with Super Mario Galaxy---and that was just two years in!
The Kinect made a much stronger hit than we may have predicted (Nintendo really had no answer, nor did they try) leading to nearly 10 million in sales. The Sony Move-controller-crap thing failed to do much but provide superior technology and more reasons for us to laugh at them. But the Wii was looking dated with the Kinect around, and then the mainstream started distancing itself from the machine, moving instead to Apple and their IPad/IPod/IPhone invasion. Nintendo didn’t have the hardcore (or technological opportunity) to fall back on, so therefore, less sales despite 2010 being a more than decent year of gaming for Ninty. The Wii had nearly fully run out of steam.
The XBox 360 and PS3 were clearly designed to last in the long run of this war, but neither expected that a) Nintendo would take such a massive lead and b) Nintendo would jump ship so fast, so sudden, and so...out of nowhere. Not only did Nintendo win the war, but also dictated the pace of it, by moving to the next generation as soon as the Kinect started pushing the motion-capture technology. That’s all Nintendo could do, as the Wii really couldn’t do much more than decent motion-capture gameplay. No HD support, no ability to play any DVDs, the online is still leagues behind Sony and especially (especially) Microsoft. The Wii was like the aging boxing legend: amazing at his prime, but has nothing left to compete with the younger guns.
But unlike previous generations when Nintendo would pull off questionable decisions, they hit all the right targets with the Wii. They knew how to profit immediately (something Sony and Microsoft could not accomplish at all), knew how to market it, and knew exactly when to quit. They knew that superior technology was right behind them, which is why they pushed the 3DS so quickly, to take away from the momentum of the shifting tides. Just a shame 3DS has no software yet……………
The XBox 360 could have been the first system to ever win the war despite coming out first and a bit ahead of the competition. Check out the previous systems that started out first: Sega Dreamcast (disaster), Sega Saturn (Even more disaster), TurboGrafx-16 (Do you even know what this is?). But what happened was simple: too similar to the Playstation 3. The XBox was nowhere near as good as the 360, but had a better core (quantity-wise, that is) of games exclusive to the system. The 360 however chipped into Sony’s third-party support—from Final Fantasy to Grand theft Auto and even the seemingly impossible-to-receive Metal Gear Solid. This led to Sony dropping significantly, but also prevented Microsoft from truly making a push for first. I am sure they can settle for the “Most Successful American-Made System in History” title—which started ringing true a couple years ago after topping the Atari hardware sales.
If the XBox wants to grow into the #1 spot, they need to step up its first-party game, something that has saved Nintendo time and time again. It is such a shame that Rareware never became the powerhouse that it used to be with the Nintendo 64. Most of the success stories of the 360 can be found on other systems, and even if they weren’t at first, eventually shifted away. Bioshock was the best example, as it was one of the better games of this generation but Microsoft couldn’t prevent it from moving to the Playstation.
As for Sony, they need to get back down to earth. Its ridiculous price tag for the first few years was unjustifiable and purely stupid, even with the Blu-Ray feature. Sony has far better first-party support than Microsoft but lacks the reputation of being more willing to adhere to gamers. The best examples include the pathetic launch, nasty high prices, and recent disastrous fights against Anonymous and the eventual consequences---I truly believe that organization was involved in the shutdown of the Playstation Network. What good does it do Sony to have excellent franchises like Little Big Planet and Uncharted if they actually sued a person that actually bought one of their systems? Yes, he is a hacker, but he was one man, didn’t hurt the company one bit. Sometimes an image can make or break you—just ask Disney and how they still make money despite pricy offerings.
Bottom Line: In the seventh generation of gaming, I declare the winner to be the: Nintendo Wii! With 47% market share and 86 million sold, there’s no question they will remain the best-seller if this generation, despite what happens in the future.
Nintendo won the crazy war because they knew how to market their far-cheaper machine and also because they were the first to not avoid the mainstream, but to embrace and invite the mainstream into the world of gaming. Hopefully though, they will push to win back their hardcore crowd with Project Café. This generation of gaming brought us some of the nastiest battles and some of the greatest games ever created, and it’s great that this gaming warfare continues to rage on between the three. As for now, I can safely give Nintendo the crown as they have a 30 million-sale lead over the others.
Unlike previous generations, each system had a great chance to win, but ultimately bad decisions, nasty economy, and a little luck gave the advantage to the Nintendo Wii in every possible way. Can Nintendo ride this wave to the next generation? Only time will tell, but as for now, the competition has some catching up to do.
Here’s to the future of gaming, and Gaming Wars VIII. Cheers.
P.S. **$#*(#*($ it, where is my Earthbound sequel?!?!?!
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